Chapter 345: No. 9 Base! All Forces Converge!

Inside the cave, a pile of examination crystals, like a small mountain, glowed under the firelight.

"Fifty thousand? That many?" Xu Jingming was stunned.

He himself only had around a thousand examination crystals.

Most of them were loot collected from defeating other psychic teams.

"This entry into the No. 9 Civilization Ruins was specifically meant for me to claim the best reward.

So the Tianyu Daochang team periodically hands over the examination crystals to me."

With a gentle sweep of her right hand through her hair, Sakura Rin spoke softly.

In truth, if I hadn't been taken away during this last stretch, I could have acquired another twenty thousand or so from other teams.

"No wonder Sakura Country's largest faction—this efficiency is truly extraordinary.

But in the end, you've just made me the beneficiary..."

Amid murmurs of amazement, Xu Jingming happily stowed the pile of examination crystals into his space ring.

Now, both his talent and examination crystals were fully maxed out.

If he still didn't get the best reward after this, it would be unreasonable.

It has to be said that the volume of over fifty thousand evaluation crystals is simply too large.

Fortunately, after two months of supplies being consumed, the space ring had cleared out considerable room—otherwise it truly wouldn't have fit.

"Alright, enter the Shishin Space to rest. Tomorrow, we head to the main base." Xu Jingming ordered after stowing the crystals.

"Yes, Master."

Sakura Rin nodded obediently, and immediately a gray hole appeared in the air beside her.

Her slender figure swiftly stepped into it and vanished.

"Shishin Space—what a miraculous existence."

Even though he'd seen Sakura Rin enter Shishin Space more than once, Xu Jingming couldn't help but marvel.

The Special S-Class Psychic Ability "Shishin Awakening" is less a summoning ability

than a fusion of spiritual and spatial psychic powers.

"Come to think of it, with Thunder Dragon Wings, I've gained some minor control over wind elements.

Does this count as me having both lightning and gale dual-element psychics?"

Xu Jingming pondered silently in his mind.

Of course, his ability still paled compared to true wind-element psychics.

"I'll wait and see when I reach a higher rank—this ability might improve."

Shaking his head, Xu Jingming didn't dwell on it and activated the power button on his smart bracer:

"Eva, tomorrow to the main base of the No. 9 Civilization Ruins—I'm counting on you for the ancient script analysis."

Since his contract with Sakura Rin, whenever she was present, Xu Jingming would shut Eva down.

His explanation for last time was simple: Sakura Rin lied—there was no reverse contract.

He'd used his trump card and escaped directly, and wasn't caught.

That at least gave him an explanation; whether the Demon Grand High Command believed it or not, he didn't care.

"Eva received. S-Class, rest assured—I know everything related to ancient scripts!"

Eva's playful voice came through his earpiece.

"Good."

Nodding, Xu Jingming sat cross-legged on the ground, slowly closing his eyes into a light-sleep rest state.

The entire ruin space's map resembled a rectangle.

At the far end of this rectangular map stood a building entirely blackened in color.

The building, like a warehouse, was a rectangular prism, over thirty meters tall and over a hundred meters wide!

On its front face, an ancient script wrote the number "9."

This was the main base of the No. 9 Civilization Ruins—where the examination rewards were claimed.

At this moment, with over half an hour remaining until the exam ended, the main base had not yet opened.

Yet the open ground outside the main base was already filled with numerous teams.

Tianyu Daochang, Lei Ting Martial Arts Hall, Baoxiong Martial Arts Hall, and other foreign factions had all arrived.

"Only thirty-four minutes left until the main base opens—where's Su Chen?"

On the martial arts hall team's side, Qin Zheng frowned, glancing at the countdown in the sky, unable to suppress his worry.

The ruin space held too many dangers—even a team led by two sixth-rank instructors couldn't guarantee safety.

Not to mention Su Chen, a lone wolf with only fifth-rank mid-tier combat power.

Any encounter with a sixth-rank ferocious beast could mean certain death.

"I hope he's lucky and doesn't get that unlucky," Qin Zheng could only hope now.

Soon, more than ten minutes passed, and psychic teams gradually converged.

Just as Qin Zheng was still worrying, he finally spotted Su Chen's familiar figure among the newcomers.

"Su Chen's here!"

"A lone wolf surviving two months? Not bad."

"Huh? He's still fifth-rank upper tier—why does his pressure feel so much stronger?"

"..."

Seeing Su Chen appear, Lin Hui and the others couldn't help whispering among themselves.

Whether you called him a weirdo who only hunted ferocious beasts, or a bold lone wolf—

The fact that he could survive two months in this relic space already proved his strength.

Don't you see — when they first entered the relic space there were dozens of lone wolves, but now there aren't even ten still on site.

Even Xia Lan and the others noticed that, compared to before, Su Chen's aura had grown considerably stronger — clearly a significant improvement.

"Wait here for a bit, I'll go over first."

The moment he saw Xu Jingming appear on site, Qin Zheng's eyes lit up; he tossed out a line and hurried over with quick steps.

And the Violent Bear Wu Guan's instructor Wang Hong followed as well.

"Two months have passed, and every faction has taken losses."

On the other side, Xu Jingming, who had just arrived on site, swept his gaze around and immediately noticed the headcount was far smaller than before entering the relic space.

The original total was roughly over three hundred people; now fewer than two hundred remained.

Most of those who vanished were lone wolves, and the Sakura Nation's Tianyu Dojo and other nations' factions also seemed to be down a few squads.

However, to his relief, although Kong Shi, Wu Yuan, Shen Dongling and the others in the Mo Da squad all bore injuries, none of them had been lost.

Another point worth mentioning —

perhaps because of Sakuragi Rin's disappearance, the entire Tianyu Dojo squad of over eighty people

showed not the slightest hint of relaxation at being about to claim their reward and return; instead, every one of them was taut-faced.

They scrutinized every esper who arrived on site, eyes wide, as if about to devour them.

When Xu Jingming had just come over, he received some of that scrutiny too — probably because his rank was only Fourth-Order Upper.

After the Tianyu Dojo people swept their eyes over him a few times, they stopped paying attention.

"Young friend Su, long time no see."

Just as Xu Jingming was observing his surroundings, Lei Ting Wu Guan's Qin Zheng appeared before him with a face full of smiles:

"I think you may have some misunderstandings about our Lei Ting Wu Guan's Prodigy Training Camp — let me explain here…"

As a top martial hall of the Great Xia nation, and even one with a certain reputation across the entire Blue Star, Lei Ting Wu Guan had its own pride.

Generally, once a genius refused the invitation to the Prodigy Training Camp's assessment, they would not be invited again afterward.

But Su Chen was no ordinary genius —

at Fourth-Order Upper, unleashing Fifth-Order Mid combat power already demonstrated his terrifying potential.

For a prodigy like this, Qin Zheng was naturally quite willing to set aside his pride and invite him repeatedly without growing weary of it.

However, before Qin Zheng could finish speaking, he saw Xu Jingming nod with a smile:

"Teacher Qin, no need to say more — I agree to take part in your Lei Ting Wu Guan's entry-camp assessment."

His earlier refusal had been because he feared Lei Ting Wu Guan's people would pull him into their squad, affecting his efficiency at harvesting esper points.

Now that he was about to leave the relic space, that concern naturally no longer existed — agreeing directly was the obvious move.

In any case, once he returned to Great Xia, he would reveal his identity.

"Huh?! He agreed just like that?"

Following behind Qin Zheng, arriving a step later, the Violent Bear Wu Guan instructor Wang Hong was completely dumbfounded.

Wait —

you refused so cleanly before, so why are you agreeing so easily this time?

I haven't even opened my mouth yet! And Violent Bear Wu Guan has already been eliminated outright?